Global attractivity for scalar differential equations with small delay

For scalar functional differential equations ˙x(t) = f (t,xt ), we refine the method of Yorke and 3/2-type conditions to prove the global attractivity of the trivial solution. The results are applied to establish sufficient conditions for the global attractivity of the positive equilibrium of scalar delayed population models of the form ˙x(t) = x(t)f (t,xt ), and illustrated with the study of two food-limited population models with delay, for which several criteria for their global attractivity are given. © 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved